The Federal Government of Nigeria has announced a significant initiative to provide free digital skills training and certification to students and educators across all tertiary institutions in the country. This program, spearheaded by the Federal Ministry of Education in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), aims to equip participants with modern digital competencies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and other related fields.

The initiative is part of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which seeks to expand access to 21st-century skills and grow Nigeria into a $1 trillion digital economy. The program is already live in forty-three institutions and is expanding rapidly. The Ministry of Education has called on all school administrators to appoint program coordinators to facilitate the training. Vice Chancellors, Rectors, and Provosts of private and state tertiary institutions are required to submit the details of their nominated coordinators via a Google form by July 19th, 2025.

Amazon Web Services, a subsidiary of Amazon, provides on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, companies, and government agencies. As a global leading cloud platform provider, AWS offers reliable, scalable, and inexpensive cloud computing services, including computing power, storage, databases, analytics, networking, artificial intelligence, and machine learning services. The partnership with the Federal Government of Nigeria aligns with AWS’s plan to bridge the gap in global digital skills.

According to a 2023 research by AWS, 30 to 45% of jobs in Nigeria will require digital skills by 2030. This indicates a pressing need for capacity development and training to prepare the workforce for the future. To address these issues, a strategic meeting was held between the Vice President of Global Services at AWS, Uwem Ukpong, and Federal Government officials in December 2023. The meeting focused on how Nigeria can be part of AWS’s global plans to train 29 million people globally for free by 2025.

Previous initiatives by AWS, including AWS Academy, AWS re/Start, and AWS Educate, have trained over 50,000 Nigerians in cloud technologies since 2017. These Edtech programs are significant for reinforcing Nigerians with the required skills needed to thrive in a fast-paced growing world. The current program, which offers 100% free certification split between the Ministry and AWS, is set to roll out to all federal, state, and private tertiary institutions, ensuring that students and educators across the country have access to these valuable skills.

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